Uncrewed Systems Technology 044 l Xer Technolgies X12 and X8 l Lidar sensors l Stan UGV l USVs insight l AUVSI Xponential 2022 l Cobra Aero A99H l Accession Class USV l Connectors I Oceanology International 2022

24 W hile Xer Technologies might be regarded as something of a newcomer to the world of UAV manufacturing, it is not a novice in the sector. The seeds of this Swedish OEM were planted about 10 years ago, and come from a company tasked with monitoring railway stations in the south of Sweden for vandalism on trains and to buildings. After several years, it determined that aerial surveillance would be far more efficient and less labour- intensive, and began researching tools to enable that transition. For the past 10 years the team, led by security expert and current COO Joakim Palsson, elected to fly inexpensive consumer UAVs to look for graffiti artists and other acts of vandalism around rail stations. Eventually the group was acquired by a larger security company, Bevakningsgruppen, renaming it UAV Development Sweden and assisting in the arrest of nearly 550 offenders as a result. After some years of flying, the team gradually became concerned that the tools being used were not sustainable. Having to land every 20 minutes to recharge or swap batteries amid the blustery Swedish weather was impractical and deeply cost-ineffective. They also discovered that the performance and longevity of their consumer-grade batteries was far from what their vendors claimed. In the summer of 2021, Bevakningsgruppen sold UAV Development Sweden to a Singaporean company, Xer Technologies, in which a gas company named Rex International Holding bought a stake and committed $4 million towards UAV development. The company’s first products, the X12 and X8, were unveiled in October 2021. “It was about 3 or 4 years ago that the team started prototyping their ideal work tool,” says Kristofer Skantze, who moved from Rex in June 2021 to his present role as CEO of Xer Technologies. “This was to be an electric multi-rotor UAV equipped Rory Jackson traces the development of these electric multi- rotor UAVs that feature gasoline two-strokes for range extension The X factor June/July 2022 | Uncrewed Systems Technology The X12 is a 12-rotor multi-copter designed for lifting payloads of up to 20 kg at a time, and with a 4 hour maximum endurance (Images courtesy of Xer Technologies)